Are You “Making a Living” Or “Building a Career”

It only arrived with the organisation of large corporations and, with the continual development of telecommunications and resulting decentralisation of workforces, who know how long it will continue to exist.  If you are honest with yourself, you will see that all “career” ultimately describes is our progression through a list of skills and opportunities someone else has made available to us, where someone else is telling us where we fit in, and what our value is.

I always thought it interesting that “care” was in the word career.  Its as if these corporations have agreed to take care of us during our working life.  They have agreed to baby sit us, so we do not make decisions, progress in our own time or decide our own value.  Apparently we cannot be trusted with our own development and cannot be trusted to measure our own worth.  This is why we need our “carers” to map our way and only let us proceed when they believe we are worthwhile (and when they can afford it, and only if they can find another person to fill our current role)

No wonder so many people are dissatisfied with their jobs.  Its all work, its all someone elses decisions, its all for someone elses goals, and its all building someone elses life.  Yet so many people talk about “career” as if its the most important thing in their life.  I know as a child, when my parents went out for dinner, being baby sat definately was not the highlight of my week.  Living my life through paying with my brothers and friends was.  Why do we change as adults?  Why do we start measuring our success and life through someone elses eyes?  Why do we let them direct our paths?  Why have careers become so important?

“Making a living”, now thats more talking my laguage.  I’m not sure if you noticed, but the term is simply about life.  And thats what careerists often forget I think.  We are on this earth to live.  Not to be babysat.  We are here to learn our own lessons, in our own time.  We are here to experience, grow and love.  We are here to find and define our own value, not have someone do it for us.  That is what making a living is about, its making life.

And that is the thing that I really love about internet marketing.  Sure, you need to learn some skills for writing successful webpages, optimising on the search engines and the like, but they are just technical skills which anyone can learn.  We have listed and explained all these skills here for free:  Internet Marketing Techniques  The main thing I love about making a living on the internet though, is that the only type of business that works on the internet, are businesses about things you are passionate about.  The reason is simple.  Every topic in the world carries to some degree, its own language.  It is only when you are passionate about a topic that you will understand this language.  It is only when you know this language that you will be able to reach the people who share your passion and sell them the real value you have to offer.  This, for better or worse, is the internet way.

This is the very thing which makes this industry beautiful.  To be successful, you have to get involved in something you love.  That is why I do not see myself as having a career.  I am making a living.  Everything I do is about a topic I am passionate about, and that includes writing this article.  I never have sluggish mornings anymore.  I am bursting at the seams to get out of bed every single day to continue with my “living”.  There are no more disappointing opportunities missed, promotions which passed me by, or board room poilitics leaving me out in the cold.  I measure my value by the internet creations I launch, the bank balance they generate, the lifestyle this provides for and the time I am allowed to enjoy it. 

That is the beauty of internet marketing. Thats why I’ll never do anything else